Federal Funds May Be Scarce For Nucleus Plan

The University of Louisville unveiled a new plan for expansion of its downtown health sciences campus Wednesday. Under the name Nucleus, the university will redevelop the old Haymarket site into a research complex.

The project is estimated to cost 2.3 billion dollars and will be paid for through tax increment financing, grants and capital funds.

One obstacle the school may face is getting money for research once the project is finished. Government funding for research has been waning for the last four years.

“So much of our research agenda is driven by federal research funding and under our strained economy we haven’t been receiving the increases in the National Institute of Health budget that we’ve historically received,” says Larry Cook, the executive vice president of U of L health affairs says government

While funding has been an issue for other building projects in the city, university officials say the school’s credit is good enough to issue bonds if needed.